


I Hope Not

by JoMouse



Series: Sterek Valentine Week 2020 [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cupid - Freeform, Don't copy to another site, Fairies, Getting Together, Love Confessions, M/M, Magic, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Mutual Pining, Sterek Valentine Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:20:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22621660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoMouse/pseuds/JoMouse
Summary: After everything they've fought, Stiles thought he'd seen it all. Until the night he stunned Cupid.Day 1 ofSterek Valentine Week 2020. Theme: Cupid
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Series: Sterek Valentine Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1627507
Comments: 29
Kudos: 419
Collections: Sterek Valentine Week





	I Hope Not

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Almost Valentine's Day!
> 
> Well, here I am being a glutton for punishment and attempting not one, but TWO, Sterek Valentine Week events. This is Day One of [Sterek Valentine Week 2020](http://sterekvalentineweek.tumblr.com) and the day's theme is Cupid.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy it!
> 
> Biggest thanks and lots of love to my betas and buddies, [Marie](http://quietzap.tumblr.com) and Jenn who came through in a pinch and have been listening to me whining about attempting to get 13 stories done over an eight-day span. Still not sure if I'm going to succeed, so wish me luck!
> 
> Don't know 'em. Don't own 'em. Don't show 'em.
> 
> xx-Joey

Stiles had thought through all the years since Scott had been bitten that he had encountered every possible supernatural being known to man and some that were unknown, but as he stood in the middle of the preserve looking down at his feet at the being he’d stunned with a flash of magic, he realized he was very, very wrong.

“What the fuck, man?” he muttered to himself, pulling his phone out of his pocket, taking a photo and sending it off to the pack group chat with the message:  _ I might have just killed cupid.  _ He also sent out his current location, although he suspected they could find him without it.

While he waited for the pack to find him, he toed at the being on the ground in front of him before squatting down and running his fingers over the white wings and quiver of arrows. Curly blond hair that reminded him far too much of Isaac to the point he’d thought at first it was the other young man in a costume. He didn’t dare investigate the fabric diaper, he was definitely not going there with someone he’d never even officially met.

It wasn’t long before he heard the pack coming through the woods, the first to burst through the treeline was Derek with Scott quick on his heels, still not quite as fast as the born wolf but getting closer every day. The two of them skidded to a stop next to the being and stared, Derek’s murderbrows furrowed in confusion and Scott bursting into laughter.

“Ever seen this before?” Stiles asked Derek when Scott’s laughter took him to the edge of the clearing where he could lean against a tree to keep himself from falling over. 

“Never. Cupid is a Roman god. They don’t exist,” Derek said, but he didn’t sound too sure despite the gruffness of his voice.

Stiles gestured wildly at the being. “Hello?!?!?”

“Hi,” Derek responded, giving Stiles an unimpressed look that broke into a laugh when Stiles shoved him and he allowed himself to stumble back a few steps. 

The relationship between them had developed over the years from antagonistic to damn near friends, although Stiles would never admit that he wouldn’t be averse to it becoming something more. There were even times he thought Derek might feel the same way, but then inevitably something would happen and he would tell himself he’d imagined it.

They scuffled for a few more minutes and Stiles knew Derek was holding back, but not nearly as much as he had when they’d first started to mess around like Stiles was one of the wolves. He rubbed his fingertips together, gathering a bit of a spark before poking Derek in the side, in a spot he knew was ticklish.

Derek roared at him and his eyes flashed blue, but he was still laughing despite all the bravado. The noise must have been enough to break through the stunning Stiles had given Cupid because the being jumped to his feet. In the second it took Stiles to realize what was going on, an arrow flew past him and hit Derek square in the chest. Stiles dove at Derek while Scott raced after Cupid who was giggling maniacally in a way that was a bit too familiar for Stiles’ tastes.

Any concern about the familiarity was lost as Derek was thrown back into the very tree Scott had been leaning against, the trunk creaking with the impact. Stiles was at his side before he had scrambled to sit up, pushing him gently back against the trunk, hand over the spot the arrow had hit. His palm tingled as he looked around for the arrow, but it was nowhere to be seen.

Turning back to check on Derek, he found him staring at him, eyes wide and unfocused. “Dude, are you alright?” He just continued to stare, his lips curving into a smile that Stiles had never seen on Derek’s face before, but he didn’t have time to worry about unfamiliar smiles, Derek had been shot with an arrow.

He pulled his hand away from Derek’s chest to check for bleeding, but his shirt was unmarred except for the glitter that was now covering his palm as well as the cotton. He knew that Derek healed but this was like he’d never been injured. Reaching for the hem of the tee, he tugged it up to check, falling back when Derek grabbed the shirt and yanked it over his head and threw it aside.

“Okay,” Stiles said, looking up at Derek’s face which had gotten closer while he’d been distracted by his naked chest, his fingers itching to comb out the glitter caught in his chest hair. “You’re being awfully cooperative.” Derek nodded, eyes still hazy, grin growing even larger as he leaned in even closer, forcing Stiles to lean away to avoid their foreheads, or some other part of their faces, pressing together. “Hey, can you lean back a bit?” Immediately, Derek was out of his space, back against the trunk with a soft thunk.

Tilting his head, Stiles studied Derek and rubbed his fingers together, the glitter caught there from trying to stop bleeding that wasn’t there hummed with magic that fizzled out when his own sparked against it. “Hmmm...so if I asked you to cluck like a chicken-” He cut off as Derek did just that, his lips twisted into a more familiar smirk, at the same moment Scott stumbled into the clearing cursing out Cupid and low hanging branches.

“He turned him into a chicken?” Scott asked, lips quirking.

Stiles whirled around and pointed a finger at him. “Don’t you dare laugh. This is deadly serious.”

“Deadly serious,” Derek parroted and when they turned to him, his face was set in a fairly good approximation of Stiles’ ‘take no crap’ face.

“Okay, you are going to Deaton,” Stiles said with a sigh. He hated to trust a vulnerable Derek to the not-always-trustworthy druid, but the man did have more knowledge than the three of them combined, although he’d never admit it aloud.

Scott moved to help Derek to his feet, but when Stiles said, “Let’s go,” Derek was on his feet and following closely behind Stiles to his Jeep that was parked at the edge of the preserve, closer than Derek’s SUV at the newly-rebuilt Hale House.

“Dude,” Scott hissed, running to catch up, keeping his voice low like Derek wouldn’t be able to hear him even without his supernatural hearing. “Dude, Derek’s looking at your butt!”

Stiles looked over his shoulder and confirmed Scott’s words, rolling his eyes. “It’s a nice butt, what can I say?” 

“It is,” Derek agreed, looking up and smiling at Stiles, his eyes still glassy and his smile back to the unfamiliar one from earlier that sent flutters through Stiles’ stomach. He couldn’t help but smile back and when Derek reached for his hand, Stiles didn’t argue, just let Derek intertwine their fingers and squeeze gently.

“What the...what?” Scott asked, pointing at their joined hands and then between Derek’s eyes and Stiles’ butt. “Is this something we do now?”

Stiles shrugged, not feeling like arguing. He was sure that once whatever magical whammy Cupid, or whatever the hell that thing was, had put on Derek wore off, things would revert back to the way they were. Of course there was always the possibility that any residual embarrassment from Derek’s behavior while whammied might revert them all the way back to the begining with physical assault and insults, so he was going to take advantage while he could. 

As soon as that thought hit him, Stiles pulled his hand away, ignoring the pout that Derek gave him, refusing to give into the impressive set of puppy eyes that even put Scott to shame because the one thing he would never do was take advantage of Derek. They had to get to Deaton’s and fix him.

Deaton was waiting for them at the back door to the vet clinic, Scott having called him while they were on their way. “Cupid?” he asked with his usual deadpan expression when they got Derek settled in the examining room. “Are you certain it wasn’t some other being?”

“Let me guess, Cupid doesn’t exist?” Stiles asked sarcastically as he tried to get Derek to stop trying to hug him and finally giving up and allowing himself to be pulled into the vee of the wolf’s legs as he sat on the table. Derek buried his face in Stiles’ neck and snuffled making Stiles giggle. Scott glared at them with judgemental eyes and a curl of his lip while Deaton turned away, but not before Stiles caught a slight smile on his lips. “No! You do not get to judge! Just be glad you weren’t the first person he laid eyes on.”

Deaton looked up from where he was studying Derek’s chest, plucking at the glitter with some forceps and putting it into a glass jar. “I’m not sure that would actually have been a problem,” he commented, ignoring Stiles when he made an inquisitive sound. “I’ll try to figure out what this is. In the meantime, why don’t you get Derek showered and into some glitter-free clothing.”

“I am not seeing him naked,” Scott said. “That is not in my job description.” And with that, he was out the door.

“It could be in Stiles’,” Derek said flirtatiously and Stiles ducked his head as he felt the blotchy heat washing over his face as Derek slid off the table and approached him, reaching for his clothing.

“Derek, go shower,” Stiles said, holding his hands up, trying to keep him back. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Derek stopped, frowned, nodded and disappeared into the back room of the vet’s office where there was a full bathroom. “Now, I’m going to make a break for it,” Stiles said.

“I wouldn’t recommend it,” Deaton said, as he added some glowing gold liquid to a few particles of glitter in a petri dish, frowning when the mixture turned red. “He seems rather fixated on you and we don’t know what he will do if he finds you gone.”

“Fine,” Stiles said, approaching the table where Deaton was working. “Show me what I can do to try and figure this out.”

They worked for several minutes, adding different liquids to the glitter until one that Stiles was working with let out a puff of smoke and made Stiles sneeze. A moment later, Derek was standing in the doorway, a towel wrapped around his waist and a confused expression on his face as he studied his feet.

“Gesundheit,” he said.

“Thanks,” Stiles muttered, closing his eyes tightly to keep from checking out Derek but he couldn’t keep himself from looking when Derek made an injured sound.

“I wasn’t sure if I should put my clothes back on,” he said, looking up only briefly enough for Stiles to see his eyes were clear and his lips were turned down into a grumpy cat frown.

Stiles dragged his eyes away from the droplet of water he’d been following down the planes of Derek’s chest into his abs before disappearing into his happy trail and headed for the door. “I’ve got the bag of extra clothes you keep in my car in case of wolf-”

He cut off when Derek shifted his neck and between one blink and the next stood in front of them in his full-wolf shift. “Yeah, that,” Stiles said, reaching for the towel that had dropped to the floor but Derek picked it up in his mouth and turned to head back into the bathroom.

“Fairies,” Deaton said when silence dragged on and Derek didn’t return. 

“So, how do we-” Stiles cut off when Derek trotted out of the bathroom past them and headed for the backdoor, sitting and glaring at it hard enough that Stiles was surprised when it didn’t bend. “It’s worn off, hasn’t it?”

“I’m afraid it has,” Deaton said and his normally stoic expression cracked enough to show a bit of the sadness that Stiles felt twisting in his gut.

“Well, it was fun while it lasted.” Stiles grabbed his jacket, relieved he’d managed to avoid getting any of the love dust on his own clothing, and headed towards the door, pushing it open and allowing Derek to escape out into the night. “Here’s hoping the stunning I gave was enough to get this fairy to leave us alone.”

“Mr. Stilinski,” Deaton called out softly and Stiles froze in the door, turning back to give him his attention. “Contrary to anything Shakespeare had to say about the fairies, they cannot create emotions from nothing. They can only lower inhibitions to allow expression.”

“So, you’re saying it’s more like Genie from Aladdin. ‘Rule number two, I can’t make anyone fall in love with anyone else.’”

“That’s correct,” the vet confirmed and fixed one of his irritating gazes on Stiles, the one that meant he was trying to tell him something, but Stiles just wasn’t quite getting it, so he just gave a wide-eyed head nod and backed out of the room and headed out to his Jeep. 

He was looking down at his phone, texting Scott an update, not that he deserved one for leaving them to figure it out for themselves because he couldn’t deal with the prospect of a bit of nudity which made no sense since most werewolves were beyond that kind of modesty. He’d just hit send on a string of creative names when he jerked to a stop because Derek was sitting, still wolfed out, in the front seat of his Jeep; he didn’t even want to think about how he’d gotten the door open or why he didn’t just change into the clothes in the back.

Climbing in, he started the Jeep, refusing to look over at Derek who had his gaze locked on the windshield. Pulling out of the parking lot, he turned right toward the preserve instead of left towards his house. He kept an eye on Derek while he drove, the wolf remaining motionless except for a tremor that Stiles could detect just under his skin, the fur on his shoulders rising and falling as they drove.

They were about a mile from the Hale House when Stiles jerked the wheel to the right, sending up a spray of gravel and sending Derek falling into the door with a yelp. Stiles would’ve taken the opportunity to make a dog joke, but instead he reached in the back and pulled out the duffle with Derek’s clothes in it and threw it at Derek before climbing out of the Jeep and pacing behind it along the edge of the road, hoping that no one would be driving by and stop to check on him.

For a long moment there was no movement from inside the Jeep but just as he was beginning to debate walking to the Hale House and leaving Derek alone to be a jerk, it shook slightly and a moment later, Derek was stepping out of the passenger side and pulling a shirt over his head, his eyes downcast. He stopped at the back of the Jeep and leaned against it, but not with his normal swagger and Stiles frowned. “What?” he gritted out through a grimace.

“You tell me,” Stiles responded. “You’re the one who hid in his fluffy fur coat and refused to talk to me.” Derek huffed through his nose. “I'm assuming you heard Deaton say it wasn’t really Cupid.”

Derek smirked and looked up at him through his lashes, but as soon as Stiles met his gaze he was looking at his feet again. “Told you he didn’t exist.”

“Oh no, we are not doing the ‘told you so’ game right now,” Stiles said, stepping into Derek’s personal space and poking him in the chest, fully prepared to have his finger broken but instead Derek curled into himself and Stiles had to wonder if there were some aftereffects of the spell and if he should call Deaton to find out.

“Fucking fairies,” Derek muttered and Stiles barked out a laugh. “Can we just forget this entire night happened?” He looked up at him with naked hopefulness in his eyes that cut through Stiles’ gut.

Pursing his lips, Stiles nodded once. “If that’s what you really want.” He moved around Derek and opened the Jeep, climbing in and rolling down the window. “Do you want a ride home?”

“Yes.”

The ride was silent apart from Stiles’ drumming fingers on the steering wheel. He spent the time trying to come up with something to say to lighten the air between them, but despite the thousands of suggestions his brain came up with in the ten minute drive, none of them made it past his lips. Derek was out the door and halfway up the stairs to the house without a word when the Jeep came to a complete stop.

“Goodnight, Sourwolf,” he muttered, rolling his eyes as he shifted into reverse.

“Goodnight, Bambi,” floated back to him on the night breeze as he backed out, arm stuck out the driver’s side window with the middle finger extended. He smiled at the laugh he got in response, his shoulders losing some of their tension.

The next evening, after a too-long shift at the station, the only thing Stiles wanted to do was head to his apartment, crawl into his bed and sleep for a week. Unfortunately, a 911 text from Erica came through at the exact moment the time clock accepted his punch out. 

Grumbling and cursing werewolves and their affinity for getting into trouble, he didn’t bother changing out of his uniform knowing he had clothes in one of the spare bedrooms at the Hale house and he could lock his service revolver in either the gun safe in his car or at the house. He pulled up to the front of the house and noticed most of the pack cars were there, but he couldn’t feel anything amiss in the area surrounding the house so he jumped over a couple of steps and hurried inside.

He’d only gotten a few steps in and ducked as something flew over his head and he heard Scott shout from near the kitchen. Whirling around he saw Erica huddled in the corner of the living room while Isaac and Boyd struggled to hold a beta-shifted Derek back. He was roaring and Stiles could feel his rage rolling over him. 

“What the hell-” He cut off as his eyes were caught by a large glitter coated heart hung on the wall of the living room and he glared at the words, “Derek loves Stiles” scribbled in the center. “What the fuck is that?”

“Scott!” Derek roared.

“Hey, asshole!” Stiles yelled just as Derek managed to shake off Isaac and got his hands on one of the throw pillows. He launched it in Scott’s direction although the ‘wolf was nowhere in sight. Stiles barely managed to duck in time to avoid being hit and feeling a sense of satisfaction when Scott tried to enter the room and got smacked in the face and knocked off balance by the projectile.

“Not cool, man,” Scott said, jumping back to his feet, crouched and claws out. “Can’t you take a joke?”

“Dude, the only ‘not cool’ around here is that!” Stiles said, gesturing to the heart before walking over and grabbing it off the wall and ripping it in half. “Did we make fun of you when the last batch of fairies gave you bunny ears for a week?”

“You kept leaving easter eggs outside my door and chocolate eggs wherever I was sitting!” Scott shouted at Stiles who blushed and bit his lip to keep from laughing.

“Okay, fair, but that wasn’t Derek,” Stiles countered. “Derek yelled at all of us for poking fun at you and you turn around and poke fun at him for something that he couldn’t control!” Scott huffed. “Oh no, you’re apologizing!”

Scott huffed again and crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s not my fault he’s too sensitive about how-” The growl Stiles let loose made the betas in the room shudder and even True Alpha Scott ducked his head before gritting out, “I’m sorry Derek can’t take a joke.”

“I’ll show you a joke,” Derek snarled, but he wasn’t fighting against Isaac and Boyd quite as hard any more and Erica had moved out of the corner. “We’ll see how funny you think it is when I rip your throat out with-”

“Hey! That’s my threat!” Stiles said. “Scott can’t have it.” He counted it as a win when Derek started to chuckle and soon everyone was laughing. “My work here is done.” He looked down at the ripped heart in his hand, frowning and carrying it with him. “Now, I’m going to pass out.” He debated driving home but decided to just stay in the room designated as his at the house to avoid falling asleep behind the wheel. “Anyone disturbs me and I’ll…” he couldn’t come up with a creative enough threat for his standards so he just snapped his fingers and sent up some sparks.

Once he was in his room, his eyes fell on the shelves of books lining the walls and thought back to the first time he’d seen them. He’d already claimed the room as his own because it was on the south side of the house and shaded by a tree so he didn’t need to worry about being awoken by the sun coming through the windows, the blackout curtains that had appeared the morning after he’d claimed it had helped. He’d opened the door to discover the shelves already laden down with a majority of his collection and some books he hadn’t recognized after he’d gone away for a week with his father.

He’d always suspected it was Derek that had built the shelves, but when he’d asked Derek had just changed the subject and then left the room. He didn’t understand then why he would do that for Stiles, but now he was beginning to even though he was trying to deny it. Running his fingers over the spines, he whispered the searching spell he’d created while away at school to help with research and a few books slithered off of the shelves enough to draw his attention.

He settled onto his bed with the books around him, figuring if he fell asleep it would be more comfortable than the desk chair. He heard everyone moving around downstairs and Derek’s grumbling but it didn’t sound like anyone was going to kill anyone any more. He looked over at the two halves of the heart that now sat on his desk, frowning at how enraged Derek had been over the words. It was that reaction that made him doubt what he’d taken away from Deaton’s words the night before.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed but he was on the third book talking about fairies and they all said the same thing that fairies could not create love where there wasn’t love to begin with and Stiles couldn’t accept that. “Maybe pack love could be mutated into romantic love,” he muttered, head jerking up when he heard a thud outside his door.

“Hello?” he called, wondering who was risking a magical whammy. He rolled his eyes when there wasn’t another sound. Snapping his fingers, he laughed when the door opened and Derek fell through from where he had to be sitting leaned up against the door. Rising from his bed, Stiles walked over to stand over him, looking down into his still-startled face. “Can I help you?”

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” Derek said, pushing himself up to sitting before rising to his feet so they were on equal footing. 

Stiles gestured to the books on the bed. “Wasn’t really sleeping, but you would’ve known that.” Derek flushed and looked at his feet and Stiles had a flashback to the night before and Derek’s behavior. “Did you need something?”

“I heard what Deaton said about the spell,” Derek said, raising his head to look Stiles in the eye. “And what you just said about pack love.”

Stiles crossed to the room and picked up one of the books he hadn’t looked at yet, opening it and scanning the pages. “Yeah?” He tossed the book aside when it gave him nothing, but it wasn’t unusual that the books wouldn’t talk about fairies and werewolf packs, the two didn’t really interact that often except for in Beacon Hills. He considered writing his own book, but he didn’t have a clue what was going on and they hadn’t actually befriended fairies, for good reason, so he couldn’t exactly ask.

Picking up another book, he looked up to see if Derek had left or was just choosing not to continue the line of discussion. He would’ve put his money on the ‘wolf skulking out quietly to disappear into the woods for days to avoid talking about his feelings, so was surprised to discover Derek standing by his desk, fingers hovering over the torn heart, frowning with pink-tipped ears. “Scott’s a dick,” Stiles said, grinning when Derek huffed out a laugh. “Don’t know why you got so pissed at him for his terrible sense of humor.”

“Some things shouldn’t be made light of.”

“Oh come on, Sourwolf,” Stiles teased. “The idea of someone like you being in love with someone like me is hilarious.” Stiles chuckled as he started putting the books back, giving up on the research for the night; his head was beginning to hurt anyway and he knew if he didn’t get some sleep soon he was going to be unbearable to be around at work the next day.

“Why? Do you think you’re too good for me?” Derek asked and Stiles choked on the laugh that bubbled up when he saw the serious expression on Derek’s face.

“I think you have that backward,” Stiles said, pulling back the blanket on his bed and turning back to Derek’s raised eyebrows. “Dude, I mean, you’re all hot werewolf with abs for days and the wickedest and driest sense of humor I’ve ever seen. Plus you’re so fucking smart.” Derek scoffed. “You might think you hide it, but I’ve seen the books you read! Half of them aren’t even in English! You’re practically a genius and you don’t even flaunt it. You’re the only one I ever feel unprepared to have a battle of wits with.” Stiles rubbed a hand over his mouth, physically stopping the flow of word vomit; he could wax poetic about Derek’s positive features for hours. He shrugged and gestured to himself. “And then there’s me, skinny, defenseless human.”

Derek’s growl was low enough that Stiles could pretend he didn’t hear it as Derek moved into his space. “I hate when you do that.”

“Do what?”

“Put yourself down,” Derek snapped. “You have no idea how amazing you are! You’re the most powerful spark I’ve ever seen and that’s with a minimum of training. Your brain is the most awe-inspiring and terrifying thing I’ve ever encountered and don’t get me started on how you look.”

“No, please don’t. I’m already well aware of how I look,” Stiles said, his voice low and harsh as he tried to push down the emotions Derek’s words had caused to swell in his stomach.

Derek scoffed and reached out, pulling Stiles gently by the arm. Kicking the door to the room shut, he turned them so that Stiles was looking in the full-length mirror, Derek behind him, resting his chin on Stiles’ shoulder. Stiles closed his eyes and Derek pinched his side. “Look at yourself.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Do it for me,” Derek whispered, his breath brushing Stiles’ ear and his eyes popped open, meeting Derek’s soft green in the mirror, noting the slight glow of blue at the edges; the beauty took his breath away as it did every time.

“Your eyes glow beta gold in the right light,” Derek whispered reaching up to gently tap a fingertip at the corner of one of his eyes. “That first day in the preserve, I thought the ‘wolf I smelled was you.”

“Bet-” Derek laid a gentle hand over Stiles’ mouth quieting him.

Once Stiles huffed, pressing his lips together, Derek changed to boop the tip of Stiles’ nose, grinning when Stiles giggled. “I never really thought a nose could be cute, but yours changed my mind.” Stiles rolled his eyes and Derek growled. “Hush, this is deadly serious.”

“Deadly serious,” Stiles mimicked, thinking back to the night before. He was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable when Derek ran his finger over Stiles’ lips. He’d heard enough crude comments about his lips that he was positive he would die if the words ‘cock sucking’ came out of his mouth.

“You smile with every inch of your soul and it always amazes me when someone is able to resist smiling back at you.” Derek’s hand ran down the side of Stiles’ neck, his eyes tracing the movement and Stiles saw them darken as he swallowed hard, his adam’s apple bouncing against Derek’s knuckles. 

They stood frozen until Derek splayed his hand over Stiles’ chest, fingertips brushing his badge. “You’ve got the heart of a wolf. You live for pack and protecting those you love. You’re not afraid to fight and you are not afraid to die, which is the one thing that scares  _ me _ to death.”

Stiles blinked back tears, letting his head fall back to rest on Derek’s shoulder as he stared at the ceiling, eyes tracing the glow in the dark stars that had appeared there one night after he’d shared a story of his mother putting them up in his childhood bedroom and how the cheap pieces of plastic always felt more like home than anything else he’d ever owned.

“Is this going somewhere?” he choked out, cursing the emotion that was swelling in his throat, stealing his breath. It felt like a panic attack except for the complete absence of panic; instead, his nerves felt calmer than they had in months.

“Only if you want it, too,” Derek whispered, stepping backwards and Stiles turned to face him. Derek’s shoulders rose and fell around a deep breath. “I like you Stiles. I don’t even know when it happened. One day you were that kid I mistook for a ‘wolf and that talked too much and knew too much and the next I couldn’t stop thinking about you, about your eyes and your smile and I just didn’t know how to tell you...” He trailed off and dropped his eyes to his feet.

Stiles gaped as he looked around the room, his eyes tracing the bookshelves, the stars on the ceiling, the extra-plush rugs covering the cold hardwood floors. “You did tell me,” Stiles said, shaking his head. “With each change you made to this room.” He thought about his Jeep and how it hadn’t been giving him any issues over the past few years, suddenly every tiny sound that made him worry would be gone by the next day. “The repairs to my Jeep.” He smiled at the pink dusting the tips of Derek’s ears and some random comments from his father filled his head. “The way you look out for my dad.”

“He’s pack,” Derek said, his voice petulant. 

“So, if he’d been there last night, you would’ve gone goo-goo over him?” Stiles teased. 

“No.” Derek’s voice was firm. “I wouldn’t have done that for anyone else.”

Stiles lips quirked and he stepped around Derek to the desk, running his hands over the glittered-covered heart, his magic sparking over it until he could pick it up in one hand. The rip was still visible, but it was in one piece again. When he turned to show it to Derek, he found his room empty and heard the back door slam open.

“Shit,” he muttered, hurrying to his window and throwing it open. He could see Derek racing into the woods, fur shining in the moonlight. He hadn’t even thought when he’d stepped around Derek that he might take the action as rejection, he was just trying to be cute and instead he’d messed up.

He heard the mournful howl and had a feeling he knew where Derek had gone. Changing quickly, he pulled on jeans and a hoodie and ran down the stairs past a confused Scott who called for him. He ignored him and went out the back door and followed the path, shooting up a set of sparks to light his way, impressing on them where he wanted to go and following them, although he knew the path fairly well.

He burst into the clearing, his heart aching as he saw Derek up on the porch, head on his paws and giving out a huff of annoyance when he saw Stiles. He’d tried to talk Derek into tearing down the remains of the original Hale house, but he could never convince him and at the moment he was glad that Derek had a place to go while he was hurting.

“You left too fast for me to do my dramatic reveal,” he said, moving and sitting down on the bottom step. He looked down at the glittery heart in his hand, even more damaged now by the run through the woods. ‘Derek loves Stiles’ was still clear in the center and Stiles frowned. “I fixed it and I was going to tease you a bit about loving me, but you fan out before I could.” He heard the porch creak and then heard Derek move down a step, but he still didn’t look over his shoulder to check.

“I’m guessing that teasing you wouldn’t be the best thing after Scott earlier,” he said, running his fingers over the heart again. “Although, you should be used to me teasing you by now.” He felt more than heard the huff as Derek climbed down another step, ending up just behind him, his body warm against Stiles’ back.

He looked up at the stars and back down to the heart in his hands, crushing it and earning a wet nose to the back of his neck. “You know, I almost gave in last night when you were being all cuddly but I didn’t want to take advantage of you when you weren’t in complete control.” Derek nudged him again, letting out a soft whine. “If we’re being honest tonight, it was like every dream coming true.”

Derek moved down to sit next to Stiles and he had to look away because he’d shifted back and hadn’t exactly brought a spare set of clothing. Shrugging out of his hoodie, he handed it to Derek who took it and laid it across his lap with a soft laugh. “You don’t have to lie to me to make me feel better.”

“Dude, you can hear my heartbeat. Did I lie?”

Derek shrugged. “Your heart beats too fast sometimes and I can’t really tell if it’s just you or if you’re lying,” he admitted. “I like to think you wouldn’t lie to me, but I know you would do anything to keep from hurting my feelings.”

“Because I care about you, dumbass,” Stiles said. “Probably more than I’ve cared about anyone in a long time.”

“Even Lydia?” Derek teased.

Stiles shook his head. “Lydia is a goddess.” He felt Derek stiffen, so he hurried to continue. “But, yes, even more than Lydia.” He looked down at the crumbled paper, glitter and glue in his hands and tossed it in the air lightly and caught it. “I would never have done this for her,” he said and stood up, pulling back and throwing the paper into the air where it exploded in a blast of glitter. 

“What?” Derek asked, standing and still holding the hoodie in front of himself.

The glitter swirled and spun until it started taking shape. The same three words that had been on the paper appeared in the air but had been rearranged. ‘Stiles loves Derek’ shimmered and he finally glanced over to see Derek staring in wonder before turning his attention to him, one eyebrow raised in question.

Stile shrugged. “It’s true. I probably should have told you before, but I was afraid you’d either run away and I’d never see you again or you’d laugh in my face or…”

“Rip your throat out with my teeth?” Derek teased and Stiles elbowed him.

“You know, even if I didn’t feel the same, I would never have laughed at you,” Derek told him, his face turning serious as he reached up and gently grasped Stiles’ chin between his thumb and forefinger. 

“But you do?” Stiles asked. “Feel the same way?” 

Derek nodded and leaned forward to brush his lips over Stiles’ gently. Letting out a sigh, Stiles closed his eyes and leaned into the kiss, losing his balance when suddenly Derek was gone. Looking around he saw him sitting at the treeline, smirking. When their eyes met, he threw Stiles’ hoodie in the air and turned. Stiles only got a quick glimpse of his naked human butt before he shifted and took off with a yip.

“Get back here!” Stiles called out, laughing as he ran, grabbing his hoodie as he went, laughing when Derek let out a bark that sounded like a laugh. “You were a lot more cooperative when you were whammied!”

Derek wasn’t putting much power into his run, never quite escaping Stiles’ line of sight and leading him back to the house. He followed him inside and up the stairs into Derek’s room, closing the door behind them and ignoring the laughter coming from the betas downstairs. Stiles collapsed onto Derek’s bed, laughing and trying to catch his breath as Derek disappeared into his closet, appearing a few minutes later in his human form with low hung sweatpants and a white tank top.

He fell onto the bed next to Stiles and grinned at him. They both broke into laughter as their eyes met and when they’d finally calmed down, Stiles relaxed into the mattress and reached for Derek’s hand, tangling their fingers together between them and glanced around the room. He’d been in there before, but normally just to fetch Derek, not wanting to disrespect Derek by getting his scent all over everything. As he looked around, he spotted his winter work jacket hanging over the back of a chair when he swore it was stored in the back of the hall closet. 

He turned his head back to ask about it when his eyes were caught by something on the ceiling. Glow in the dark stars were scattered across the ceiling. Getting off the bed, Stiles turned off the light in the room and returned to lay next to Derek and studying the ceiling. “The stars in my room are constellations, but I don’t recognize any of these.” 

“You wouldn’t,” Derek said and his voice was choked. Stiles glanced over and even in the dark could see pink dusting his cheeks. He turned onto his side and Stiles moved to mirror him. “They aren’t based on the sky,” he explained. He used one hand to point and Stiles followed the finger. “Those three are the moles behind your left ear.” He brought his finger down to trace the spot behind his ear before returning to point at the ceiling. “Those clusters I probably shouldn’t even know as well as I do, but it’s the scattering on your stomach and over there, your back.”

Stiles reached out and ran his fingers over Derek’s stubble, grinning at the scratchy feeling. “You put my moles in the stars?’

“No, the gods put the stars on your skin,” Derek said. “I just memorized them.”

Stiles leaned forward and kissed Derek, running his tongue along the seam of his lips and sighing when Derek parted his lips and their tongues touched. The kiss went on until Stiles had to pull back to catch his breath. “You haven’t memorized all of them,” he said with a wink.

“Guess I have some studying to do,” Derek responded, tugging Stiles’ shirt over his head and reaching for his waistband. “Good thing I’m a quick study,” he whispered into the skin of Stiles’ neck before his tongue traced along a smattering of moles.

“God, I hope not,” Stiles quipped, giggling when Derek playfully dug his teeth into his throat, laughing.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are food for the writer's soul!
> 
> Come say 'hi' to me on tumblr! I'm josjournal.


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